Help!!! Family Reunion
 

My DCousin who is the head of the Family Reunion committee has asked me to come up with activities for our picnic, which will be all day on Saturday. I am not very creative or imaginative when it comes to such things.

The reunion is going to be in SC, so its not like I am able to transport anything really big to use for any of our activities. Do you all have any suggestions?

Signed,

Activity-less in Cleveland

If it's with some family you haven't seen in a while, this is a fun game - all can play.
Get a large bowl of M&Ms and pass them around, asking folks to take as many as they want, but not to eat them just yet. Then, when everyone has their share, drop the bomb. You must tell one thing about yourself for every M&M you have. Since you know the game, you don't have to take but one, and can still stay OP, or, just don't eat them!

Ask everyone to bring a baby picture, then post them on a board or wall, along with a number corresponding to each one. Have a ballot sheet and those that match the most correct babies to the right name wins a door prize. Edited note: another fun way to do this, is to pass out the pictures within the group, and then have each person guess if anyone is holding their own picture.

Kiddos love the toilet paper mummy game - get a partner and see who can make the fastest toilet paper mummy.

Bring some jr. size legal pads and ask everyone who can write to jot down a favorite memory of someone in the group, not in their immediate family. Share them when everyone is done.

All FANTASTIC ideas. Thanks Hkychik.

Any more?

Water balloon volleyball is really fun. A few years ago at a reunion we did a pie eating contest with graham cracker crusts, a big can of chocolate pudding, and spray on whipped topping. We had a few different catagories of ages, and then after the big dinner that night we had the finals. It was really fun. Also a hot dog eating contest would be fun.

Cheeto head is great. Buy some shower caps, several bags of cheap cheetos, like at the dollar store, and a few cans of shaving cream. Divide your group into teams, tell them that they need one catcher, and the rest of the team are throwers. After the catchers have been picked, ask them to sit on chairs at the front of the group. Pace off about 10 feet from the catchers and make a tape line that cannot be crossed byt the throwers. Ask each catcher to place a show cap on their head, cover the caps with shaving cream, pour out a big pile of cheetos in front of each team, and give them 2 minutes to get as many cheetos to stick on onto the head of the catcher as they can. Ask someone in your family to be the judge. This game is a scream!

Here are some more ideas, but I've not done any of them....

Art contest: Invite the kids to draw Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Louie and so on. String a clothesline and hang each masterpiece for all to see.

Family Scavenger Hunt: Fun for all ages, but an especially good way to get the kids involved, a family scavenger hunt ensures plenty of interaction between different generations. Create a form or booklet with family-related questions such as: What was great-grandfather Powell’s first name? Which Aunt had twins? Where and when were Grandma and Grandpa Bishop married? Is there someone born in the same state as you? Set a deadline, and then gather the family together to judge the results. If you wish, you can award prizes to the people who get the most answers correct, and the booklets themselves make nice reunion souvenirs.

Invite attendees to submit favorite family recipes -- from their own family or one passed down from a distant ancestor. Ask them to include details on, memories of and a photo (when available) of the family member best known for the dish. The collected recipes can then be turned into a wonderful family cookbook. A great fundraising project for the following year's reunion!

Family Lineup: In the game Family Lineup, the aim is to get your team lined up according to a single distinguishing characteristic that’s called out by someone in the group: birth order, age, height, distance traveled to the reunion, alphabetical state of origin, and so on. The first team to get lined up yells out its order and wins.

Katie, I LOVE that cheeto head thing. Can you really fling a cheeto 10 feet? That would be hysterical!

Yeah, you really can. The crunchy ones, not the puffed. I bet you would have to be closer to do the puffed ones. It is so funny. I did this at a birthday party for my grandma last fall, not the sick grandma, another one. I did not tell anyone the plan, so the catchers were very suprised when I started covering their heads with shaving cream. The good thing about this game is that no one got dirty. After the shower caps came off, no one was covered in anything.

We did this game in college-except the shaving cream was on the face and the "throwers" had the cheese ball puffs and had to blow them from their mouths (no hands). It was hysterical. But then college sorority games usually are.

Oh my goodness that cheeto game sounds hilarious! I will definitely have to keep that in mind for future "party reference" !